Sunday, February 15, 2015

Square After Dark is the series of posts here on DanaSquare where I focus exclusively on Adult novels specifically Adult Romance. If that is something you are not interested in than I would suggest not reading farther.

I am a complete mood reader. One night I was craving a steamy romance read and I picked up This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas. I had picked up this book at Book Con, not really knowing anything about and I wasn't fully sure if it was going to be something that I liked. I started reading This Man at around 5pmish before dinner and then put it down. I picked it back up around 9pm or so and then I finished it around 3am. I was off for winter break so I went and bought the ebook for the second book and then I finished that around 9am. I didn't actually sleep until the afternoon. THAT WAS CRAZY!!

I love adult romances for that addictive quality they have. Sometimes you could be loving or hating a book but you feel so wrapped up in the story that even sleep will not motivate you to put the book down.

Just to preface this will end up being more of a discussion/rant rather than a more thought out thorough review. I read these books for the sheer fun of it so I am not trying to write up an organized review. I just want to share my thoughts, feelings, and what I have read recently. Also be mindful that I read these two books more than a month ago so my memory won't be too detailed and I don't want to include anything spoilery.

Young interior designer Ava O'Shea has no idea what awaits her at the Manor. A run-of-the-mill consultation with a stodgy country gent seems likely, but what Ava finds instead is Jesse Ward--a devastatingly handsome, utterly confident, pleasure-seeking playboy who knows no boundaries. Ava doesn't want to be attracted to this man, and yet she can't control the overwhelming desire that he stirs in her. She knows that her heart will never survive him and her instinct is telling her to run, but Jesse is not willing to let her go. He wants her and is determined to have her.

This Man was incredibly addicting so much so that I couldn't sleep until I finished and even then I NEEDED to pick up the sequel and continue on with these characters. Despite this I did feel like it had a lot of problems (reason for the 2 star rating). This is definitely an unhealthy romance and even toxic at times. I would never say that they were abusive though; they are consenting adults and I think that is an important detail to remember. They do control each other and even manipulate each other but they never intentionally physically or emotionally harm the other.

The writing was okay. At times it was rathe cheesy and corny but that wasn't so bad to deter me from reading. It could have been better but overall I didn't mind it. It was so so in the grand scheme of the book. This is an erotica so there is a lot of sex. I enjoyed reading those scenes but I loved the tension, angst, and character interaction of This Man.

Jesse and Ava have a very tumultuous relationship. I loved their banter and love/hate relationship. Jodi Ellen Malpas in essence wrote a fast paced slow burn relationship. My problem was the overly dramatic reactions of Ava and Jesse. All they did for the middle of the book was get together, Ava would break them up, then Jesse would get her to have sex with him and then the cycle would repeat. It got rather annoying and boring after awhile. Ava got to be really whiny and Jesse was a prick. I also was so annoyed with his not telling her his age (especially in the second book).Also seemed like Ava never actually got any work done through out this book, bad interior designer.

The ending had a huge cliff hanger that when you think about it made a lot of sense but Jodi Ellen Malpas weaved that aspect of Jesse's life really well throughout the book in slight details that it made sense but as a reader you never expected it. Or at least I didn't.

Jodi Ellen Malpas can write sexual tension really well and that made This Man so engrossing. The actual story arc and character development is okay. I just had a problem with the repetitiveness of the scenes and some of the things the characters did. Overall, it was okay. I definitely think fans of E.L James and Sylvia Day would enjoy this one.

Jesse Ward drowned her with his intensity and blindsided her with his passion, but he kept her away from his dark secrets and broken soul. Leaving him was the only way Ava O'Shea could survive. She should have known that Jesse Ward is impossible to escape--and now he's back in her life, determined to remind her of the sensual pleasures they had shared. Ava is equally determined to get at the truth beneath this man's steely exterior. That means letting herself get close to the Lord of the Manor once more. And it's exactly where Jesse wants her--within touching distance...

I definitely found Beneath This Man to be a better story arc than This Man. I think it had much more going, which probably is why I enjoyed it more. I do think many people who aren't interested in reading an erotica with BDSM will no longer want to read this series after this book. Though Jesse and Ava themselves aren't really having a BDSM relationship.

Beneath This Man also features a wider range of characters and sub-plots. Jodi Ellen Malpas is definitely the queen of the subtle hints because I am clearly picking up throughout these books that Ava has been off her birth control for awhile even though Ava keeps forgetting. I should expect a pregnancy in the next book.

There were a lot of more exciting parts to this book without having to deal with the overdramatic braking up and getting back together routine of book one. Also I really loved the character development of this book. We really delved into Jesse's character and the story became much darker in this book than it was in the prior. There were still some things that the characters did that just seemed unwarranted and out of character at times, which was really annoying. It seems like Jodi Ellen Malpas likes to add drama for the sake of drama at times. Ava did get on my nerves quite a few times because she was overly goody two shoes about Jesse or her friends. She needed to get off her high horse a bit.

Ava and Jesse are not the best characters. They were entertaining but they don't make great choices. They do things to intentionally to manipulate each other or make the other person stay with them. They are very unhealthy but at the same time they do work well and make the other much more tolerable characters.

I would say my enjoyment of this book and even the first to an extent was the high of reading them so fast. I was hooked and I couldn't let go. It was an emotional and fast paced ride. I am still unsure if I will continue and read the third book in the series mainly because that high of immediately reading it has worn off. I may have liked these two more when I was reading them rather than now looking back on the stories.

Sometimes reading a book is purely based on the reading experience for me. I had fun reading it and that is all that really matters.

Have you read these books? What did you think? Do you have any adult romance/erotica recommendations for me?

3 comments:

I really really love this trilogy. I hate some of Jesse possessive actions, but overall I feel in love with him. And even more because these books were the firsts I read after Fifty Shades of Grey, which were the ones who pop my cherry. My favorite book is the last one, because it has even more action than any of the other two. If you haven't read it, you should ASAP.